Families Who Fled--Their Stories
April 12, 2011
To Whom It May Concern:
I, Greg Seago, hereby swear under oath and declare under penalty of perjury that the following facts stated below are true.
I have been with the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries for almost thirty-five years. The injuries I have sustained in recent years are traceable to the fact that my only crime seems to be that I have lived on property owned by members of the church following the teachings of the Bible. The injuries I have sustained these past few years are painful to even put into words, but if you but feel a fraction of the pain I and my children have suffered, I have accomplished something.
For 12 years, all that my children have known is me. I have been their only parent, and my children and I have formed a bond that is very tight knit. To my children, I was their hero. I am all they have. Three years ago in 2008, our peaceful, happy lives together came to an abrupt, traumatizing stop. It started with my 14-year-old daughter, Vanessa, being subject to a SWAT team raid. Many children—my daughter included—were held at gunpoint by these men wearing all black and masks and carrying heavy artillery. All this when they knew all that were in the home were women and children. It was the most terrifying thing these children have ever experienced. They claim they did this to protect the children from abuse. Now where is the logic? There was and is no abuse. They are the abusers.
It doesn’t stop there. I was at every court hearing trying to fight to get my daughter back. My 12 year old son, Marcus, came to court to help fight to get his sister back, by testifying on the church’s and my behalf. Before he was even able to testify, armed officers filled the courtroom and blocked every exit and began forcefully taking my son and four other boys into custody. My son reached out for me but there was nothing I could do. They don’t care what they have done to these children. They are guilty of child abuse.
But it doesn’t even stop there. At the same time while I was away at court, state troopers raided our properties in Fouke where my youngest son was being babysat. Right before the troopers came, they were all headed to a park when they were pulled over on the side of the road and 17 children were taken, including my 10-year-old son, Nathan. My son was terrified. I am the only parent he has ever known; he needs me as much as I need him.
Again, our government is guilty of child abuse of the worse degree. My children were never abused until they were taken away from me. At the few visits we were allowed, my children and I were not allowed to speak freely to each other. These few visits were monitored by biased, hateful state workers. Then my parental rights were completely taken away. Our final visit, the children knowing this would be the last time they would see me, was an hour long with armed guards standing watch. The resulting injuries to me and my children are beyond proportion. With my rights as a parent terminated and my children being in foster care, I have not been allowed any communication with them for over a year. Why were my children taken away? No, it wasn’t because of abuse, for there is not one shred of evidence in that regard; only made up stories from disgruntled, former members that were promised monetary gain if they would lie and bring false testimony against Tony Alamo and Alamo Ministries to try to put a stop to this ministry.
Our Pastor speaks publically on radio, television, and through pamphleteering, of the corruptions in our society and the anti-Christian movement in our government. These disgruntled, former church members have formed an alliance with the government to slander the church, the pastor, and its members using sensationalism in the news media to fan the flames of public hysteria mixed with good old fashioned bigotry.
I had to leave my home at 303 E.Shawntel Smith Blvd. Muldrow, OK, and move to Fouke, AR where exorbitant fees have been paid to lawyers to fight to get our children back, to fight to put an end to this order that families with children could not safely live on properties owned by church members, and to fight to stop this tide of slander and persecution. Because of this court order to pick up any and all children living on church property, many Christian members of the congregation fled to protect their children from this unlawful assault on Christianity. To try and pick up the pieces, the loss sustained is insurmountable. With most of the congregation fled having to find housing, means of employment, purchase vehicles to get to and from work, etc., those of us left keeping this worldwide ministry functioning are spread very thin. The physical and emotional trauma is unspeakable and beyond any amount of monetary compensation.
Sincerely,
Greg Seago
To Whom It May Concern:
I have been an active participant in the Alamo Ministries since late autumn of 1971, when, because of the evangelistic outreach efforts of Tony and Susan Alamo, I had been given the chance to hear the entirety of the gospel of Christ and had turned my life over to Him. I have never regretted that decision. My life now has purpose and meaning.
It has been quite a few years now since 1971. Over these years I have directly witnessed the many troubles and the persecutions this church has had to go through and endure. I have seen the properties and houses we worked hard for, the properties we raised our families in, the properties and houses our children played in and on, all taken away without justification and sold for pennies on the dollar. I have seen the many court battles we have had to fight. I have heard the countless accusations made by others brought against our pastors and this church. I have seen our Pastor Tony, when in his time of grief over the passing of his late wife Susan, not even given the decency of a moment of solitude to find consolation, but forced instead to fight legal battles in defense of his church. I have seen our Pastor Tony twice thrown into prison for things he was innocent of.
This list goes on and on and all of these things have affected my life in many ways. Yet, the one thing that has affected my life personally and the lives of my children is due directly to the raids on property owned by members of our church in Fouke, Arkansas in the fall of 2008 and the removal of children living there by the Arkansas DHS. Because of this event, my life and that of my family has been turned upside down.
I lived in New Jersey at this time. I have been married twice and have four children, one by my first wife and three by my wife now. At the time these raids occurred, we had heard that the Arkansas DHS was not going to be satisfied with the disrupting of the lives of families living in the state of Arkansas only, but also wanted to see the removal of children from families living in other locations as well, from any families associated with Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. This warning came just in time for me to take my wife and four children out of the home we were very happy living in and go into hiding; for fear of what would happen to them. With the exception of the eldest, these children were all very young and would have been permanently devastated had they been taken away from the mother they love very much and were all very much attached to.
We stayed in motels for several nights, moving around and then into a house we were able to rent. It was not long before we heard that the local DHS had come to our former home looking for these kids, and with the police pounding on the doors at 5:00am and had wakened all of our neighbors and questioned them as to our whereabouts. They told one of the neighbors they had been “schooled” by the Arkansas DHS for two weeks prior to this of the many “evils” of the Alamo Ministries and its associates, and the “terrible, terrible” things and abuse (even possible murder) we were guilty of committing.
Nothing could be further from the truth. None of my children or any of the other children in the church have ever been abused a day in their lives. The neighbor that they told this to (who has never been associated with Alamo Ministries) has since moved his family out of the state to protect them from the constant DHS harassment that persisted for many months after this. Even the family that moved into the house he moved out of suffered DHS harassment after this. They were still trying to locate my children and find anyone who may be able to point them to them.
My children could not understand what was going on. All they knew was that they had to move away from the home and friends they loved and were not certain of what was going to happen to them.
My wife and I tried to explain to them the best we could as to what the situation was and that, even though they wanted to go outside and play when the weather was nice, they could not go outside right now because other people might see them and cause problems.
My little daughter was only two years old at this time. She started waking up in the middle of the night screaming at the top of her lungs because she kept having bad dreams of being taken away from her family. She would be inconsolable when this would happen and only after much comforting would she be able to fall back asleep.
At the beginning of January 2009, my eldest son was taken into custody by the local DHS here in New Jersey. This was the beginning of a six month ordeal for him and us that none of us will ever forget. After being put into one foster care home after the other until he landed in one he stayed in for several months he was put into the local public school system and exposed to completely different value systems that he was accustomed to. He has not been the same since then.
During this time I was forced to go to court month after month in the attempt to get him back. Finally, after six months of many sleep broken nights, agonized days and prayer, the DHS system in New Jersey finally released him back into my custody. They could no longer come up with any excuses to keep him. Have things gone back to normal since his return back to me? NO. We have been unable to reunite with the rest of our family. My wife and his siblings have not seen our son in over two years and we have not been able to see them. We have had to live apart from each other for fear the DHS will still take an interest in separating the rest of our other children from us. Does this affect us? Of course it does. There is nothing more that we would like to see more than a complete reunification of our family and the members of this church and for the truth to be seen—that our pastor and the members of this church are not guilty of the things that are being said about them in court and in the media.
Did the DHS leave us alone even after they returned my son to me? NO, one evening several months after he had been back home with me, he was crying on the couch. Someone from the DHS department had come to his school that day and taken him out of class to ask him questions. They wanted to know if he had seen any of the other kids—his brothers and sister. He had to tell them he had not. After he told me what had happened he said sobbing, “Why don’t they just leave us alone?” Life has not been the same since the Arkansas DHS decided they knew best and what was good for people. Did this just affect my family? No, it affected many, many families that have children they all love very dearly also. All of us look forward to a day when hopefully and prayerfully this will all change again soon.
Very Sincerely Yours,
Steven Wedel
April 24, 2011
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Don Thorne, a thirty-eight year member of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, as well as a grieving father of a 13-year-old son and grandfather of four innocent children, ages one through seven, who were abducted by the Arkansas DHS after they received false accusations from disgruntled ex-members of the ministry who had an axe to grind and filthy lucre to gain by jointly lying against Tony Alamo and us members of the ministry. Consequently, the courts believed the false witnesses, condemning our Pastor to a life in prison and deeming us, the parents in the ministry, as unfit despite the fact that not one shred of abuse was found in any of our children.
In mid November of 2008, my wife and my son-in-law were driving two Ford Excursions on the way to a nearby park. On the way, both vehicles were pulled over by the FBI right on the freeway, followed by the DHS, who kidnapped our son, our four grandchildren, and twelve other innocent children. There are no words to describe the pain, the torment, the helplessness, the anger, and the disappointment in our government’s judicial system that allowed such abuse.
My wife was forced to run with our two remaining children that were not with her on the day of the abduction, for fear of having them kidnapped as well. Meanwhile, while in court trying to fight for my son and grandchildren, I was put in jail for 203 days for contempt of court for not disclosing any information that would lead to my wife’s and children’s whereabouts. My wife is still in hiding with our two remaining children, away from our Christian home on 905 Locust St. in Texarkana, Arkansas, our Christian Church located in Fouke, Arkansas and away from our children’s Christian school, friends and family. There is no money that can compensate for all the torment, the real fear we have of losing our children that remain. We have had to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on court costs and lawyers; and on the relocation of my wife and our children when we already had a home.
The suffering did not stop there. My grandchildren were placed with people who are doing everything in their power to keep them from seeing me, their grandfather, as well as their loving, role-model, natural parents. In addition, my son and my grandchildren have all been placed in public schools, learning to accept homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle, and the evolution theory, among many other things that are completely contrary to the teachings of the Bible, which we hold more than dear. Even the Constitution of our country was founded upon Bible principles. Our love of God and the Bible compels us to stand up for the Truth, and it is because of the Truth Tony Alamo and its members preach, that we now suffer what you read about here.
Feeble words cannot describe the pain and the anguish that all of us have suffered physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. We have been victimized when we broke no laws. I have been working as a volunteer in the Alamo Christian Ministries since 1974, working alongside my Christian brothers, putting in hours, days, weeks, months and years–in reality, a lifetime to build and establish a Christian community, church and school for my family’s upbringing and the upbringing of others likeminded, so they, in turn, could have the opportunity to bring up their families in a pure and moral surrounding, based upon Christian faith.
Our lives have been torn apart unjustly. I pray for justice. I long to see the pursuit of happiness, the freedom of speech and religion and our God-given rights granted us. May God lead and guide you to help us. Our prayers are with you.
Sincerely,
Don Thorne
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Mishaela Parrish. Almost two and a half years ago, I lived very happily at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in Saugus, California, now known as Canyon Country. I lived on a large piece of property with other families, and attended the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. I went to evening church services, also services during the day. I worked at the church building doing duties to make sure the church building was presentable for church services or I babysat children of the brothers and sisters at the ministry. We had miniature church services with the children where they loved to sing the gospel songs and tell what they were thankful for. They got lots of fresh air and I had the first hand opportunity to witness how well our children were dressed, brand new clothing, nothing with rips or tears. The health food they ate was natural and of the finest quality. All these things were provided for each and every one of the members by the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, which I for one, devoted my whole life to, by choice and thankfulness.
I was given the opportunity to experience and learn many different skills-skills that definitely benefit me in my life today such as organization, responsibility, how to cook, clean, and much, much more. My schooling was of the highest quality as well.
All of our needs were provided by the ministry, and then one day, if you can imagine, the foundation was ripped right out from under me, from my life. I had just had newborn twins, for which the ministry provided everything I needed to raise them properly, when we had to flee our homes because of false accusations of child abuse. I call that inhumane and abusive. We had to leave all our belongings, our lives, for fear our children would be taken into custody and never seen by us again, which is the present case with my brother’s children. They were such healthy and happy children, and they were torn forcibly away from my brother and his wife. People, that's abuse!! I wasn’t able to take my crib, belongings, etc., for my newborn twins. Talk about starting over from scratch. I had to start a whole new life with just two car seats, a couple changes of clothes, and a few diapers and formula. That is cruelty to do to someone who lived a very normal life, as normal, if not better, than most of this world’s population.
I was dedicated by choice to the ministry. I wanted to become a teacher at our Christian school but that dream was also abruptly pulled away. Our lives, our children’s lives were very healthy, fulfilled lives. We had everything we needed and more.
Now, having to work long hours to support my twins and myself to try to catch up with what I lost at the ministry isn’t easy. Life today is very expensive. You even have to pay for the money you make.
So thank you DHS, thank you government for "having my best interest” at heart. You ruined my life, but not my will and determination to continue on stronger than ever in the Lord and for this ministry that has given so much. If God be for us, who can be against us? We will win in the end. Praise the Lord!!!
Sincerely,
Mishaela Parrish
To Whom It May Concern:
I have been a proud member of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries for nineteen years now, and I happily lived on property owned by other grateful members of the ministry until the very dark November of 2008, when the FBI pulled me over alongside the highway and the DHS snatched from me my eldest thirteen years old son and my four loving grandchildren (the youngest was Giana, a beautiful nursing, one year old baby girl, sitting securely next to her caring mother)—altogether seventeen children, all from very good homes and parents who loved them.
What was our crime? What did we do to deserve such a Gestapo-style shanghai? I will tell you. We all had one thing in common…Faith. We had faith in God’s Holy Word, the Bible, faith in our God-given constitutional rights, faith in our freedom of religion, and faith in that a man is innocent until proven guilty. But on that grim November of 2008, my faith in God remains but my faith in our government was destroyed when I was not just falsely accused of being a lousy parent—that I could’ve bore and proven to be a lie. But I was tried, judged, and condemned with no trial, and left childless on the side of the road. I might as well have been hit by a truck and left for dead on the side of that highway. The pain was more than I could bear. The FBI’s last words to me were, “I’m sorry for the inconveniences. Thank you for your cooperation.” On top of it all, I was handed papers ordering me to appear in a kangaroo court to fight for what was already mine to begin with. What the court really wanted was for me to compromise and forfeit my religious beliefs for the return of my son and the “freedom” to keep my two remaining children who were now also in danger of being kidnapped.
So what was I to do? Either I join the bandwagon of false witnesses against my Pastor for the return of my son, when I knew these accusations about my pastor to not be true, or leave my son in custody and run with the two I had left. I did what any true Christian would have done. I did what any good mother would have done whose faith was destroyed in the system. I refused to compromise and I refused to give up my children. It was difficult, but I was left with no other alternative but to run.
My faith in my government is shattered, but I am not moved. The Bible warns Christians of great persecution in the end times against those who don’t compromise with evil, against those who don’t go along with the multitude, against those with integrity who will not bow down to this once blessed, but now corrupt and hypocritical, government whose trust is no longer in God.
In short, there has been a price to pay in order to retain my integrity as a Christian and as a mother. I’ve lost my son and four of my grandchildren to the DHS, as well as many other children whom I still love and miss dearly. I’ve lost my faithful Pastor to prison; I’ve lost my home; my freedom to attend church services regularly in the company of my friends and family. On top of it all, when I learned that my husband was determined to bravely step in and fight a good fight in court for our son and grandchildren, I ran off with our remaining children so that he wouldn’t know where I was in the event the court demanded from him our whereabouts. Well, my husband was asked our whereabouts, he answered honestly, but to no avail. The truth he spoke was taken as contempt of court and he was locked up for close to a year. Meanwhile, my children and I had to survive, relocating time and time again while the Ministry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in court fees and attorneys, fighting still for the return of our children and the release of our pastor.
Despite all of the above mentioned atrocities that have occurred in our lives, our faith in God has not been shaken. We trust in God and that He will use you as well as others in our time of need. To my children, their dad is their hero, their pastor is their hero, and anyone else they see standing for what is right. Will you be a hero? Will you help us?
Respectfully,
Lisa Thorne
To whom it may concern:
If you were thrown into a den of lions, what would be your reaction? As Daniel in the Bible was punished for worshipping the Lord, so have we. Daniel loved the Lord so much that he stopped to pray three times a day. Daniel 6:10 "…he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." At that time, as is now the people against Daniel made laws contrary to the highest LAW, THE LAW OF GOD. Pastor Tony Alamo has always preached the entire Word of God without compromise. Vicious and slanderous lies have been told about Pastor Tony Alamo forcing us to flee from the properties that were our homes, our church facilities, and leave behind our way of life and community because he is our pastor. No evidence was found against Pastor Tony anywhere that he had broken any laws. Even the jury in his last trial said there was no evidence to convict him, but they did it anyway. Again, Daniel went through a similar instance. "Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God" (Daniel 6:4-5).
My wife and I have been a part of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries for many years; I, since 1970, and my wife, since the early 1990's. I experienced the persecution and false accusations almost from the very moment I became a part of the ministry when the West Hollywood Sheriff's Department used to harass and arrest members of the Church just for preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have never experienced anything like this before of the kidnapping of children from their own parents who were raising them in a safe, Christian ministry.
When my wife and I heard of the Gestapo-like attack on the young Christian women and girls on the Church property in Fouke AR, we realized our own children were also in danger. We had no place to go. We had to flee with the clothes on our backs, taking whatever we could for our family of eight. My wife had been exposed to the degradation of the state DHS as a young girl (from age 4 to age 18) and knew the evils that would come to our children if they were seized by them.
We have never experienced these types of things from Tony Alamo. In fact, the ministry provided for all our needs spiritually and physically. Now we have had to spend over $60,000 just in expenses of food, clothing, rent, utilities and doctor bills in the last two and one half years. The mental and physical stress has been too heavy. This occurred during one of the worst recessions our country has faced since the 1930’s, making finding a way to support my wife and now 7 children sometimes an almost impossible task. Beside the lack of finances we live with the constant threat over our heads that we may be the target of the DHS coming to seize more children. We want to be allowed to live the way of life God himself gave us. Many dedicated religions such as Muslims, and Buddhists, and Catholics are permitted to live according to their beliefs. What was once Christian America has been destroyed.
Our children have been praying fervently to go back to the ministry. They haven't seen or played with their friends in over two years. They loved going to the services that were held nightly. There they were involved with the good that helped with the winning of thousands of souls. The best education was provided and people in need were continually helped. The ministry is our family God has given us.
Having to flee into a world that has no fear of God is like being thrown into a den of lions. Our belief is that we will be delivered as Daniel. God shut the lion's mouth; and Daniel's accusers and all of their families suffered the punishment they had planned for Daniel. "And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den" (Daniel 6:24).
God's will is supposed to be done here on earth as it is in Heaven, and not the devil's will.
Sincerely,
Shimon and Adriana Levine
To whom it may concern:
I am a member of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. I am writing this letter to inform you of the injury that has been inflicted upon us by branches of the US government. In 2008, my 16 year old sister, was visiting me at the property I was living at in Fouke (100 Circle Dr. Fouke, AR 71837). The FBI raided that same property that day. They had a SWAT team of about 100 officers armed to the extreme that descended on 7 children and 3 adult women. The FBI had machine gun lasers aimed at our chests. Maybe you have children, and maybe you don’t. But if you did, how would you feel if you saw men armed with machine guns aimed at your innocent little child’s chest? You will never know the anguish it has caused these children and adults alike. As if all of this was not bad enough, the DHS forcefully took my little sister along with 5 other girls. They had no proof that any abuse was done to her or the other children that they dragged away. It did not matter what anyone said, including the parents. It didn’t matter that the children were crying and screaming for their loving parents. No one pitied them, no one helped. Once the DHS had the children that was it. You can’t imagine the traumatic effect it had on them. It is something that is permanently etched into their lives and souls, as well as into their parents and relatives. No matter what we said in court, no matter how much we proved the government’s witnesses to be liars, they decided that everything we said was false and they were the truthful ones. They even had drug abusers as their witnesses, but still that didn’t matter.
Two months later, the DHS got a court order signed to take all of the children from all the members of our church. This second time, The DHS stopped two van loads of children, including my little brother, on the side of an extremely busy highway. Again, all the children in these vehicles were mercilessly taken from their pleading parents. The children were screaming and crying for their parents while the DHS workers ignored them, laughed and joked with each other, and discussed what each other had for lunch that day. These government workers were going to protect the children from “abuse”?!
What kind of person thinks that an environment is abusive where children are taught the Bible, where they are given a first class education, where their every need is provided, where their parents love them and give them the best of care? I’ll tell you. The very ones who took our sweet children away from their parents and their environment and put them into public schools where they could be introduced to profanity, drugs, sex, abortion, violent video games, atheism, evolution, perversion of every kind. We have been fighting ever since to try to get them back. We have not succeeded. Some families were fortunate to have been able to flee with their children before they were taken by the DHS. They had to leave without any of their belongings. My older sister had just had a baby. She and her family of nine children had to literally flee for their lives and go and start their lives all over again. They had no jobs, no possessions—nothing. But at least they have their children.
You have no idea what it is like to go to a supervised visit with your children or your brother and sister for an hour every two weeks, or once a week if you are lucky. Some were only able to see their children once a month. The sorrow in the children’s eyes is unbearable. Saying goodbye is the worst part. They cling to their parents and wail. They want to know why they can’t be with their mommies and daddies. But the hour is up. There is no time for any extra hugs and kisses. There is a crude parting and they are gone with their tear stained faces.
Now these people who have falsely testified against our church are trying to take away the properties that the members of the church have worked very hard for. If we do not have intervention from someone, then likely they will succeed. This is the purpose of my writing this letter. I want you to know so that you can aid us in the fight to keep what is rightfully ours.
Someone told me recently that even though I was smiling, they could see in my eyes that I was very sad, that my soul is hurting.
Yes, I am sad, because when we needed people to come to our aid no one did. You can see time and again when a homosexual is even slightly being “bullied or persecuted” that the American Civil Liberties Union jumps to defend them. But when it came to us, people who are born again Christians, law-abiding citizens, the ACLU would not lift their little finger to help us. Even animals have more pity, help, and advocates from the people in this world than we Christians do. We are emotionally, physically, and mentally drained. We have cried until there are no more tears to cry. We are treated worse than animals—as if we are scum.
Your taking this case, as is your responsibility to do since we are insured by you, would not only help us. It would show this nation that Christians have as much God-given rights as every other person in this country. It would show this nation that we will not tolerate being trampled upon by the government. If they can do this to us, what do you think they can and will do to you? We must regain our freedom and our rights.
“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”
Sincerely,
Alys Ondrisek
April 26, 2011
To whom it may concern:
I am a member of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. I am writing this to let you know of the traumatic events that took place when branches of the US government came in and raided our church and kidnapped our children. On September 20, 2008, my young sister, Angela(16), was visiting my other sister, (who was 20 at the time) where she was living in Fouke, Arkansas. The FBI and a SWAT team of about 100 officers raided the house where they were which only had 7 children and 3. They had high powered assault rifle lasers pointed at their chests. Now realize that these were unarmed innocent helpless girls and women. They forcefully took my 16 year old sister along with 5 other girls. The girls were crying and screaming for their parents and they didn’t know why they were being violently taken away as if they were criminals.
Two months later on November 18, 2008, the DHS got a court order signed to take all the children in the church away from their parents. That day in Fouke, Arkansas, they stopped two vanloads of children, who were with their parents, on a very busy freeway. They forcefully took the children screaming and crying from their parents. Two of the children they took were just 14 months old. They took them out of their crying mothers arms and put them into the arms of complete strangers. The mother and children were crying, screaming, and pleading not to take them away, but their cries fell on deaf ears. These children were in no way abused. Out of their own mouths, they said they were not abused, but it didn’t matter. The DHS was determined to take them away no matter what.
Two days before this, on November 16, 2008, I went into labor and had a 4 week premature baby at the hospital due to all the stress of knowing my 16 year old sister and other girls was violently kidnapped by FBI thugs at gunpoint. My husband had our other 8 children at home and he had to get them and come and get me and our premature baby from the hospital, while the DHS and hundreds of law enforcement officers were raiding the church properties in order to take away all the children of the church members so we could flee before they came and kidnapped my 9 children. I was bleeding from giving birth and I couldn’t even go home before we left. I had to flee with my husband and nine children without our possessions or even money to get a place. I was worried that they were going to take my newborn baby away from me at the hospital. We had to drive around in the vehicle for days before we could get off the street and find work and means of supporting ourselves to start a whole new life. We had no money and my husband was faced with having to support 9 children, including a brand new premature baby, and myself suffering from the trauma of just giving birth to a premature baby and suffering the mental anguish and trauma of having to leave the security and comfort of our church and home. Our children were terrified that they were going to be taken away from their loving parents by these strange, uncaring people that kidnapped their 16 year old aunt at gunpoint and also their friends who were taken while driving on a very busy freeway away from their parents while screaming and crying not knowing why they can’t be with their loving parents who have always given them the best of care to be thrust into the custody of complete strangers.
It was extremely difficult for my husband and I to start all over again with nothing but the clothes on our back and no money, having to provide all the necessities of life for our family of nine children including our 2 day old, premature baby girl. The anguish it has caused our family is indescribable with words. We worry everyday that we could get a knock on the door from the DHS coming to violently kidnap our children from their perfectly happy and loving home.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Edwards
4-26-11
Please think what’s right and what’s wrong.
God gave me a total of four children. I am raising my children in the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry. My children were taken against their will by government officials at gunpoint. They were traumatized by the event and by the officials that took them. I believe that some of those people wanted to murder these children and everyone else because they came with machine guns. I, the father, have and am still, suffering painfully. I feel that my children were abused by the officials by being taken and held at gunpoint, also harassed along with being forcefully taken away.
I was out of town working when two of my daughters were taken. My oldest daughter age 19 at the time, was at home babysitting my 10 year old daughter, named Charity. When Charity was taken, she had just returned from visiting and having a gospel service with the residents of a nursing home along with some of the senior sisters of the ministry. Alsandria age 17 was outside on the playground at the time she was taken.
My son (16 years old) was taken out of a vehicle on the freeway at gun-point. All three of my children are now in foster care against my will. It has caused a hardship and painful stress on me because they were not in any danger and were given all the love that a parent could give to their children. My children were educated in a Christian private school. The Tony Alamo Christian Ministry did not allow guns and drugs or any ungodliness.
My children have been gone from me since 2008. The officials terminated my rights to see or visit my daughter, Charity, now age 12. A lot of false accusations have been made over the years just because of our belief, freedom of speech, in Him we trust. Is America too far gone, do we have anyone in the Supreme Court? Lend your ear president and government of these United States, good Christian people. If you do, let us hear your voice. Thank you and may God bless America.
Alphonso Reid
April 13, 2011
To Whom It May Concern:
We, Carlos and Sophia Parrish, members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, lived in Fouke, AR. Address: 102 Meadowbrook Lane, Fouke, AR 71837. We were a happy family with our four children and the fifth on the way, living in a safe community and a beautiful home where we worked together with our neighbors to help further the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as in the Book of Acts. We furthered our skills in the ministry every day to help reach lost souls with the simple plan of Salvation, and food, clothes, and shelter to the needy. Our school age children went to our very own, high standard Christian school, where there were absolutely no drugs, guns, fornication or profanity. The best of food (the highest quality), was served three times a day, in the church operated cafeteria, which also served our very own home grown fruits and vegetables. We had nurseries, pools, playgrounds, fitness centers, and movie rooms. We had Bible study, and held church services daily.
On September 20, 2008, police officers were driving all over our property; helicopters and planes flying very, very low over our home. Our children were very scared, crying and screaming, ''They are going to shoot us; don’t let them take us away!!'' Ever since then our children have been suffering from nightmares, especially our oldest daughter, who was at the time, just four years old.
On November 18, 2008, our four beautiful children, ages 7, 4, 3, and 1, were taken away from our arms against their will, by orders from Judge Hudson, carried out by the Department of Human Services and armed police officers, while they laughed and gave each other high fives as they took our children from us. Our children were traumatized, scared, and crying out for us to help them, but we were not allowed to comfort them.
Souls were then afraid to associate with Tony Alamo and the Tony Alamo Ministries due to the lies, bad media, and the threat of their children being taken from them also. Our properties have been vandalized.
We were deemed as unfit parents and are never to be able to be caretakers of our own children or be able to hold a care-giving profession of any sort because of a one-sided court ruling even after the judge was informed three times by the Department of Human Services that there was NO abuse found on any of our children!! Our-seven-year old son was put on the stand (in court) and was asked about people he did not know. He was manipulated and was told by the Department that what he said would help him come back to his mom and dad. His testimony was used against us.
The Tony Alamo Christian Ministries has provided us with attorneys and legal assistance that has mounted up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to help us in every way possible, to regain custody of our kidnapped children and to stop the cesspool of degrading lies about our Pastor Tony and the Ministry, by disgruntled former members of Tony Alamo Ministries, who were hired, threatened, and bribed to lie.
We were forced to leave our home and our ministry duties on September 28, 2009, due to threatenings by the Department of Human Services; that they were going to take our newly born son (June 18, 2009). This has cost us thousands upon thousands to relocate so suddenly, because of unconstitutional persecution against our pastor and ministry. But not just thousands of dollars but also years and priceless memories of our children’s lives that we will never know or experience!!! We relive the pain and sorrow of this tragedy and the crying of our children every day and the fear of our newest child from being taken from us, because of this ungodly order.
Sincerely,
Carlos & Sophia Parrish
4/13/11
To whom it may concern:
Our family lived at the property in Moffett Oklahoma at Belt Avenue. Our quality of life at the Alamo Christian Ministries was the best anyone could ever have. We were all very happy there. Our needs--personal, spiritual, and physical--were always met. We had high quality food, the best education for our children, the safest environment to raise our children in. Our children’s friends were born and raised in the ministry, so we didn’t have to worry about who they hung around with. When anyone was sick, they got the best of care and high quality vitamins and minerals. The cost for caring for someone who was sick, or someone who needed medical attention, or for nursing someone back to health, was not an issue in the ministry; our pastor spent thousands of dollars for the sick and for those who needed hospital care. Among many other good things, our pastor had installed at the Fort Smith church a large water distiller so everyone could always have fresh, clean water to drink.
When we were at the church we all worked together. We went out to the streets witnessing to the lost souls. We were winning people to the Lord. We attended the nightly church services. We helped those who were needy, fed the homeless, paid people’s bills until they could get back on their feet. We helped people all over the world, not just in America. We functioned together as a body bringing hope and life to this lost, cold, and darkened world. Like I said before, everyone’s needs were met. We did not have to be concerned about our bills, rent, food, utilities, clothing, transportation, or babysitters. We knew that our children were well taken care of. We did not have to worry about the kind of people taking care of our children because they were God-fearing people, not homosexuals or lesbians, or some other pervert or child abuser.
Our children have many fond memories of how good it was at the ministry. They were able to go on many field trips, visit water parks, and theme parks. They remember how it was at Christmas time and all the presents they would get from our Pastor and others. They remember the birthday parties they had with their friends. They remember the pool parties during summer and at the end of summer. They remember the friends they had but have not seen for a long time now because of us, like the other families, having to flee due to a judge ordering our children to be taken away from us, and the horrendous lies that were told about our pastor and the ministry. Our children miss going to school with their friends, and ask us when, “Can we go back?”
The people in our ministry have suffered greatly, some more than others. Some of our friends had no time to flee the ministry with their children, and as a result, had their babies and children ripped away from them by our government. Some of these children that were torn away from their parents without any compassion whatsoever have suffered greatly. Some have been sexually abused and taken advantage of. The foster parents, with those whom the Department of Human Services (DHS) had placed the children, have mistreated them. The DHS has taken these parents’ parental rights away now and will not allow the parents to even see or visit their children. Some of these children were just babies, still nursing. Imagine the torture and anguish these children have had to go through all this time, all because of LIES.
It has been difficult for close to two and one half years to find a job. The few temporary jobs I did find were paying minimum or near minimum wage. The jobs were, for me, physically very brutal, considering my being in my late 50’s and still recovering from a brain aneurysm from several years ago. They never lasted long enough that I could file for unemployment. The stress of having to ask people for money and getting retorts like, “Go get a job,” and, “Don’t call me again,” or hearing someone was glad at my having such a hard time in life, it was such a disappointment to have to deal with stuff like that. I would walk for hours and miles down streets stopping at hotels and restaurants and other businesses seeking some type of employment, always going through the stress of not having enough money to supply all the needs of my 6 children, such as clothing, dental needs, vitamins, and fear of being exposed and being raided by the FBI and DHS and losing all my children. I would go to all avenues I could think of for months to get a job. We had to leave with very little of our belongings and start life all over again, looking for housing, which was difficult because of not having any credit history. For example, one place beat me out of 70 dollars to do a credit report on my wife and I and then told me I had to get a cosigner in the town we were living in. Who could I get to cosign? I just moved there. I did not know anybody there that could help me in that respect. Then hearing and reading about all these lies being told about the Pastor and the church by these people to attempt to destroy every family in the church and to cause every parent to lose their children. Put yourself in our shoes for a moment and imagine the stress, the fear, the anxiety of leaving your home not knowing whether you’ll ever return, traveling not knowing where you’ll end up, not knowing if the DHS is tracking you to rip your children away from you.
We have been tremendously hurt by the lies, and the actions of the DHS and other government agencies persecuting us and causing us to have to leave our homes and relocate and start all over again.
While fleeing, we had to travel and travel and had to live for a while in the vehicle with our six children, and my mother along with my extremely handicapped sister who needed special care, were traveling with us because of the judge’s court order to take all of our children away from us. You can imagine the difficulties of taking care of a handicapped person on the road. Due to having a hard time finding a job, we did not have enough money to even buy beds for our family including my nine-month-old son at the time and therefore had to sleep on the cold tile floor for about five months, with just sheets between us and the floor.
We’ve had to relocate at least seven times since this has happened because of economic reasons and trying to make a living. You can imagine the tremendous cost of having to relocate and start all over again. We’ve been living from hand to mouth, trying to make ends meet. Now all we have been doing is trying to survive out here. We’re not able to do the things we used to do in the ministry. We have not been able to go to church services for the past two and a half years. We’re law abiding citizens and don’t deserve to be treated this way by our government, we have done what any other good, loving, God-fearing parent would have done to protect their children. God gave them to us, not to the government. And God expects us to care for and protect them.
My whole determined purpose to win souls to the Lord Jesus has been slowed down extremely because of the church being shut down and not being able to openly use Pastor Alamo’s very effective soul winning literature for fear of being tracked down by this illegal move from the DHS to kidnap my children.
Now that I have told you what has happened to us and what we’ve been through, I hope and pray that you will do right in this matter.
Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Vern Jordan
To whom it may concern,
I am writing this statement to express, or at least try to put in words, the mental anguish, despair, and anger that has been caused to myself and my husband because of the vicious attack against our church (Tony Alamo Christian Ministries) and our pastor by, what’s supposed to be, our U.S. government officials.
It first started on September 20, 2008 when so-called law enforcement agents, unlawfully raided our school and mission. The SWAT team came in with their high powered weapons as though they were making a drug bust, or some kind of scene you would see in a movie. It was incredible!! There were children playing in the back yard of the school and mission and these unlawful agents came in and pointed their weapons on KIDS!!! Can you imagine the terror on these poor children’s faces? Did they bother to tell anybody why they were there? NO. Why did they need hundreds of vehicles, with hundreds “law enforcing” officers to converge on a small amount of children playing?
Several hours after they had been on the property, going through homes, people’s closets, drawers, files, you name it, they presented some papers with some outrageous lies and false allegations of there being abuse in the church. This is the furthest thing from the truth. They took six of our girls captive, so they can “protect them from abuse.” There was no abuse, and there has never been any abuse in all the twenty-six years that I have been in the ministry! My children (now adults) grew up in this ministry and they were never happier. I wanted my grandkids raised the same happy way my children were raised. Now that is not possible because of the lies that are being told. It is a very wholesome environment for children and adults alike. I came to this ministry from Brooklyn, New York and at that time I was looking for a place where to raise my children because all I saw was drugs, violence, kidnapping and little girls who were already sluts in the streets. I did not want that for my children, and the Lord made a way of escape for me when I received Him as my personal Savior and He wonderfully changed my life, and brought me to this ministry.
Some days after this raid, they arrested our pastor, falsely charging him abuse. INSANITY!!!! As if that wasn’t enough, two months later, November 18th to be exact, a judge in Miller County signed an order, ordering the pick-up of all the children in the ministry. How heartbreaking!!!! WHY? Because after he heard the lies and false accusations from disgruntled people and didn’t bother to hear the truth of the matter, “he” deemed it was dangerous for children to be here.
Needless to say, all those who wanted to keep their children fled with them for safety. That included my daughter and her husband with their children. My daughter had a newborn, just 2 days old, and she was recuperating from the birth. She had to get up in the pain and discomfort she was in, and leave, where to, they didn’t know. One thing they did know was that they wanted to keep their children from harm’s way, the real danger, the supposed Dept. of Human Services. This department is not interested in human services; they do more harm than good. Look at the news reports. They take children out of what they deem to be “unsafe” environments and put them with real abusers.
It’s been two years and seven months that my husband and I have been deprived of being able to see our grandchildren. It has been very heartbreaking for us. We were a close family and these bastards have taken away from us the most wonderful years. What grandparent does not want to share in the joy of seeing their grandchildren grow up and see all the cute things they do and say? I don’t know very many that don’t, as a matter of fact I don’t know any. All my friends in the ministry that have also lost contact with their children and grandchildren feel the same way.
If that wasn’t bad enough, now these liars are suing the brothers and sisters of the ministry to take away the properties they have worked for. So the bottom line to this statement is, we need help in defending against these lying, false accusers. All they want is money, because they’re too darn lazy to earn it themselves. They figure that if they can get the insured properties, then they can sell them and make a few dollars. They don’t care if we have no place to go to. They’re disgruntled and miserable. And misery loves company.
We’re not the people they portray us to be, and it is for sure that our pastor is not the “monster” they make him to be. Why can’t we get a fair shake in all of this? We have a say so. If it was anything like what these liars are saying it is, I wouldn’t be here. I’m not brainwashed; my mind is not conditioned; I know when something is not right and when there is danger. We want the truth to be heard. Please help.
Thank you,
Sally Demoulin
3/30/2011
I am filing this complaint due to the many indignities I and my family have suffered over the past two and a half years. I lived at 1619 Grand Ave. Fort Smith, Arkansas, for many years. I and a business partner bought this property for ourselves to live in and rent out the other apartment for extra income. Now money-grabbing, unscrupulous people think they can just take our properties and businesses because of the many false allegations bought against Pastor Alamo and the Alamo Ministries. I and my fellow ministers, along with our wives and children, have had to flee our homes, friends, businesses, and close business associates. This has caused us severe hardships not only monetarily but also incredible mental anguish. It’s been very hard on the children to be uprooted and torn away from their friends and surroundings. They live in constant fear that the lies believed by the Arkansas Department of Human Services would sway the mind of the child welfare agency in the state we now reside in. They’re afraid that they will end up in a foster home and be deprived of the security and love that they have with us, their parents.
This perversion of justice has caused irreparable damage. The judges have been influenced by this form of religious bigotry. We have no credibility as law abiding American citizens. Each month since these allegations surfaced is a battle to pay additional rent and feed ourselves not to mention all the other extra bills that are piling up daily. We have been libeled in the truest sense of the word for what they say Pastor Alamo did—but I KNOW he is not guilty.
We worked hard, and for many years, for our properties and businesses. We paid our taxes, mortgages, insurance, bills, etc. and contributed to the community. This is the very same form of hate crimes Hitler and Nazi Germany perpetrated towards the Jewish people. After they were demonized in the eyes of the public it was easy for them to steal their property and even their lives.
Sincerely,
Steve Lovellete
April 13, 2011
To Whom It May Concern,
We have been a part of the Tony Alamo Christian ministries for many years. We have dedicated our lives to do the work of the Lord in the ministry, during which time we lived at several of the properties owned by members of the Church, the last being a property in Moffet, OK.
At the ministry, we never lacked for anything. We and our children were well dressed, well fed, and well housed. We lived in a fully furnished 4 bedroom home with 2 baths, laundry room, living room, dining room, kitchen, lots of children play equipment, full basket ball court, a lot of top of the line gym equipment, and much, much more. Our children attended the ministry’s school with A Beka Book curriculum. In the ministries we were provided for with the best of the best. We and our children didn't have a worry in the world. Now because of lies and persecution from false testimonies of ex-members we have had to flee our establishment, church and home, for fear we most definitely would have lost our precious children to those who despise the truth of the gospel. We had no choice but to leave our beautiful homes and life to start out with nothing but what we could stuff in a vehicle with nowhere to go.
We and our children have been traumatized because of everything unrightfully being taken away, and afraid because our children might be taken from us as some of our children's friends were taken from their parents. Since then we have had to relocate 3 times looking for work and even now it’s been three years almost and we still don't have it near as good as we had it in the ministries. We are paying rent, utilities, schooling; we've had to purchase two vehicles and are paying insurance and registration on them. We had to buy all new furniture and appliances. We had to buy all new tools. All of which we had in the ministry and are now paying for unnecessarily because of persecution from these lies that are being fabricated against our pastor and ministry. We've suffered defamation of character and have been sought after and hated for our beliefs in the Word of God which of course is very unconstitutional.
David and Nina Romero
April 6, 2011
To whom it may concern,
This is our earnest plea for help as insured individuals with your company.
Because of the false accusations brought against Tony Alamo my pastor of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, many tragic circumstances have occurred. Our complaint is the injury we have suffered and to this day are suffering.
Our grandchildren were taken away because of these false charges and we have not been allowed to see them since September of 2008.
When they were taken and examined by medical doctors they found zero evidence of any kind of abuse, in fact they found quite the contrary. After being videotaped and questioned by the Arkansas Department of Human Services, the testimonies from the children were, as they stated, how well taken care of they were and loved by their parents, family and church members, and their pastor.
My husband and I moved into one of the apartments in Moffett, Oklahoma in 1999. Because of verbal threats made against us, my husband and I had to leave our beautiful home in Moffett, for fear that we’d be further harassed for helping the ministry. This was in the latter part of 2008.
Our Ministry has, for well over 40 years now, provided food, clothing, housing, and basic necessities for all those who desire to serve the Lord and keep his commandments. Most important of all was our spiritual growth in daily church services and Bible teaching.
So our homes are sitting empty while we are paying rent on other property. We’ve been struggling physically and spiritually.
My husband had a heart attack four months ago. He ended up having triple bypass surgery. He spent 9 days in the hospital and stayed an extra week in the area until he was well enough to travel. Between the surgery, x-rays, anesthesia, medication, hospital room and care his bill ended up being over $100,000.00. I believe the extreme pressure that was put upon him caused a great deal of stress and contributed to his condition, having a heart attack.
We are suffering because of loss of credibility and hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on lawyer’s fees. Because of the damages suffered we need your help!
Very Sincerely,
Susan and Thomas Scarcello
To Whom It May Concern:
We are the Davis family, a family of nine. Being members of the Alamo Christian Ministries, we shared many pleasures which now we cannot enjoy. We lived in a huge five bedroom house with a huge yard in Moffet, Oklahoma. We lived a very happy, peaceful life, according to the Bible and as we saw fit. The contrast between what was and what is, is as comparable as night is to day due to disgruntled, former church members that were harassed, deprogrammed, and paid to lie against those who loved them most.
As parents we have had many hardships since being forced to flee for the safety of our children, due to a judge’s order to take any children living on properties owned by church members. But our hardships are increased greatly having to watch our children as they were abruptly torn away from the happy life they were living and from their friends they have known all their life, as we were forced to flee for their safety with only the clothing on our backs. We were forced to flee like common criminals running for our lives. All this while they knew of their friends who were ripped from their parents arms, some of them held at gunpoint and forced into the foster care system. They have had to live a completely different lifestyle. The mental anguish cannot be assessed.
Our children were safe and secure with no need to worry that anyone would hurt them ever, least of all our pastor. Now they cry and are terrified that one day these same armed guards with giant guns will come and try to take them away from their homes and from their parents that love them. Our children were happy and full of vigor and life. Now they live in fear of injustice possibly tearing their family apart. Why? What crime did we commit? All this because we lived in a house owned by a member of the church, whose pastor preaches the whole Word of God and doesn’t back down from anyone, including the local and federal governments. This was to be our Constitutional right. It has now been established that our government can tell us what church we can or cannot attend and can tell us what property we can or cannot live on.
Leaving all our means of making a living behind, my husband being a contractor, we have had to start all over. For a single person this is very hard; now take into consideration a family of nine. My husband had to look far and wide for work to take care of the things that were previously provided by the church. We still live a lifestyle lower than we are accustomed, afraid to make a wrong move in working, or taking our children to the doctors, dentists, giving our information to landlords, etc., lest they find out who we are and send us running again.
My husband is almost 60 years old. I don’t want to even consider what I and the children would do if something should happen to him. We both have suffered much health and stress problems over all this. We never had to worry about getting medical attention or dental work when needed. Now we are afraid what will happen, what kind of questions will be asked, what will they find out that will cause us to have to uproot again for the safety of the kids. My children were receiving an education at the church that people would have to pay handsomely for. They had one of the top curriculums in the country, but in fleeing, all their books were left behind. We are forced to use a more expensive means of education to teach my children that are in the upper grades, which is very costly.
Again, all this suffering because we dared to live in a house owned by members of our church and we dared to be members of that same church ourselves, that dares to preach the entire Word of God, including the parts that are so offensive to the people in the world today.
Yes, I say we deserve compensation to say the least. How does one put a value on self worth and the ability to live our lives in peace without the fear of our children being taken from us?
Respectfully,
Sue Davis
4-25-11
To Whom It May Concern:
I, Tamela Reid, was born and raised in the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. September 20, 2008, they raided one of our churches in Arkansas. I am disgusted by what has happened to the 6 children they took from us. They took these children from a very safe place. We love children. Everyone is taken care of very, very well here. There are so many perverted people walking the streets now that the DHS don’t touch.
These people are taking away Christian children from their parents and the families that love them dearly. They say we are abusing the children. Listen, I’ve been in the ministry ever since I was a baby. I am now twenty two years old. There is no abuse; this is the best place a child could ever be. We are protected from the evil of the world. Think about it, out there children are murdering each other, committing fornication, and then they murder their own child, they steal and are running the streets taking drugs, and everything else. No one goes after them. We don’t allow that here. I am happy because of that. There is no abuse, or neglect whatsoever. I know there is none of that going on!
My two sisters ages 10 and 17 were taken September 20th, 2008, on a pack of lies. There was no evidence or anything, they just took them. They told them that they would only be in holding for seventy-two hours and then they’ll be back home; look, it’s been 2 years and 7 months now! They are liars! They said they found an iPod, camera, and pictures. So what! Everyone has them. They found no pornography or abuse of the children whatsoever! They never found anything! They never will! They left with only the 6 girls meanwhile there was a lot more children living on the properties and didn’t take them from the ministries until November 18, 2008. The DHS and Arkansas police took them as they were on the highway!!!
They are keeping our children and you from us on a pack of lies! Now all this time later the life at the church is, of course, not the same.
It’s happened, people of America. If there are any true Americans left, they have taken away the freedom of speech and the press and every other freedom we’ve had. I have been through it so badly-the mental anguish!! The millions of tears cried-you can’t imagine!! They hate God’s Word, and I hate what they’re doing to true Christians!
With all my heart,
Tamela Reid
To Whom It May Concern:
My family and I lived in Muldrow property in Oklahoma. I was raised in the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries most of my life. Through all of the years that we lived there we had the absolute best years of our lives. We were happy at the church serving the Lord and learning how to please God and how to help those in need. Our children have been raised in a Godly and safe environment. They never have been exposed to any kind of mistreatment whatsoever. All of our needs were met spiritually and physically. If we needed medical attention or needed fresh fruits or vegetables to get better or vitamins etc... Our needs were met. Our children had good schooling. We did not have to worry about the people who were watching our kids because they were God-fearing people. Our children had a lot of good times at the ministry, they were able to go to different field trips, they had pool parties, and other fun activities. We were training them to be soul winners and to care for others and to visit the sick and bring the Gospel to them. Because of the lies our reputation as a soul-winning ministry has been marred and it has hindered us to work together as a body. Our Pastor has not only helped us in the ministry but people all over America and the world. People would come to our local church in Fort Smith and ask for a hand out because they needed help until they could get paid. We helped them with whatever they needed help with, whether it was food, clothes, rent, or bills, expecting nothing in return.
Our children and our lives were suddenly torn apart when we had to leave our homes because our government was trying to take our children away from us on a pack of lies. It was like a bad dream only it was real. We had to leave suddenly and took very little of our belongings with us because of the urgency of the matter. We are God-fearing people and will do everything in our power to protect our children as God expects of us and as any sound minded parent would do. Some of our people did not have enough warning and as a result some of the children were taken away by the DHS and have been terribly abused and traumatized and mistreated by strangers. Some of these children have not seen their parents since this happened. The DHS deemed the parents unfit to care for their children because of the LIES that were being spread about our Pastor and the ministry and to make matters worse terminated the parent’s rights. We have had to struggle since we’ve been gone. We have not been able to spread the Gospel as effectively as we have in the past. We can no longer attend our church services, as of now. We feel that our religious freedoms are being trampled over by our own government. Life has not been the same for us.
As a result of all of us leaving, we’ve had to rent, buy vehicles, furniture, beds etc… Basically, we had to start all over again. We’ve also had to relocate several times because of jobs and that has been very expensive. The church has had to hire attorneys to defend us in court. We’ve had to sue to try to stop this persecution against us.
I, Dan Carson, know that IF John Kolbeck would have been at the church, he would still be alive because he would have been able to go to the hospital, but because of the lies that were spread about our Pastor Tony and John he couldn’t go to the hospital and that’s why he died.
I would hope and pray that you take this matter at heart and help us out.
Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Carson
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter to inform you that my pastor, Tony Alamo, was thrust into prison on a bunch of lies by a group of money-hungry females. Although there was no evidence that proved their fallacies, Pastor Alamo was sentenced to prison regardless.
Due to their lies, the Department of Human Services, enforced by the FBI and State Troopers, removed some of the children from our Arkansas church properties and from a van that was on an outing with their parents.
My son was also taken when he was out with his father. I thank God that I was able to escape with my other children but life has not been easy for us since we’ve left our home. We had to relocate several times from one place to another, plus rent is very high. My children and I are now miserable. I miss my husband and son. My children miss their father and brother terribly. They miss their past lives. They miss their Christian friends, their Christian school and miss attending church services and church gatherings.
My children are eager to go back home and be reunited with people who love and care for them dearly. They said that they’re sick and tired of being away from everyone they know.
At times, they still get traumatized when they see or hear a police car or a siren. They often ask, “Are the bad people (DHS, police) still looking for us?” It just breaks my heart knowing that they still feel this way. They don’t feel secure as before. My little girl, until this day, sometimes gets nightmares of being kidnapped by the police like her brother. Right after this happened (when she was two years old) she would, out of nowhere, break out screaming at the top of her lungs, eyes wide open yelling, “No, no,” repeatedly. When I, her own mother, would try to talk to her, hold her and comfort her she would not let me near her as if she didn’t recognize me. She wouldn’t let anybody near her. Those scenes would last for about 10 minutes. There was nothing we could do to help her but to pray. My family and I will continue praying for the truth to be revealed about our pastor and for his name to be exonerated. We pray for the church and for all of our families to be reunited.
Sincerely,
Sabine Wedel
To whom it may concern:
At this time, almost two and a half years have passed since the life of my family and I was torn in shreds. Living in Fort Smith, AR., our lives were well-ordered and extremely productive with my two boys attending high-quality schooling and our entire family receiving the "Cream of the Crop" in every aspect of our existence at the Alamo Christian Ministries. Then one hundred or more Federal, State, and local agents, sheriffs and police, accompanied by Department of Human Service agents, were unleashed with an unreasonable furor to forcibly take my children from me and my wife under a complete false banner of abuse. Having received a warning that this fierce Gestapo type raid was occurring, I had no alternative but to flee, leaving everything I owned.
The act of abuse on their part, and hundreds of investigations and investigators never had, and never have, turned up one smidgen of abuse, neglect--nada!!! Yet the local and national media blazoned their twisted, fabricated commentary, making us less than human. Pastor Tony Alamo was tried by this propaganda and given a prison sentence of unbelievable proportions on the pretense of this falsely contrived and perpetrated act.
Monetarily, it has cost me tens of thousands of dollars just to exist. My point, on a scale of 1-10, ten being pristine, my family and I were at a ten living along with members of the Alamo Christian Ministries. Now my living is one minus. These contrived falsehoods have caused, and continue to cause, my family to be uprooted from where we lived in peace and serenity in conditions which would be envied by all, and thrust into unfamiliar and dangerous locations, having to scrape out an existence, where as I cannot say enough about what we had--the very best at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries.
The most heartbreaking and distressing end to this letter is that our grandchildren were taken, four of them, one being an infant. We have not been allowed to even see them for approximately two and a half years.
This evil, unjustifiable situation must be ended and turned completely around.
Sincerely,
Bill and Rosa Parrish
To whom it may concern,
On the 20th day of September 2008, police vehicles swarmed our properties, Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in Fouke, Arkansas where we, Ralph and Kadie Baez and our children, were living.
There were helicopters circling our properties for over 30 minutes so low to the ground that our house was vibrating. A uniformed government S.W.A.T. team armed with machine guns and gas masks jumped over the fence where innocent children were playing.
Our children’s cousins were among some of the children who were taken into foster homes. All of this terrified our children to the point that they are still afraid of police, and when they see an officer, my little girl always says, “Mommy, don’t let them take us away!” and they try to hide. This was a very traumatic experience for them and us, as well, and even though they are young, they still remember and will never forget it. They are very affected from being taken away from their home, their private Christian school, and their friends.
We had to flee and were forced out of our homes in the middle of the day without even a toothbrush to our name, leaving behind our church, family, friends, and every last personal belonging in fear of our children being taken.
Now we’ve had to re-establish our entire lives. Previously, we had everything we could possibly ask for or even need. Our home was fully furnished from wall to wall. We’ve now had to find new housing, secular jobs for income, re-establish Christian educational facilities for our children, buy vehicles, and re-provide all of life’s necessities, like we said before, we already had, but the money could have went for the furtherance of the gospel.
We did nothing wrong to deserve what they did to us.
We are asking you, as our insurance provider, to please compensate us, fight for us, for all the money on rebuilding our lives. Essentially there is no amount of money that could compensate for what the government has done to us. They are trying to destroy our lives and our church.
Sincerely,
Ralph and Kadie Baez